Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Pastor Dave]

Yah, you're entirely right. I'm sure there would need to be a permit to even have one penned. I have no idea what would be necessary legally to involve one in a breeding program. I would think it neat to utilize the hybrids and possibly reintroduce the wild one back to nature. Maybe that would be inhumane. Idk, but it is all hypothetical.

 

[Mike CHS]

It wasn't easy to find out if any laws were impacted by us raising this girl but the agent told us that either we raise it and try to release it later (if it wanted release) or let it go since there was nothing they could do. She doesn't want to spend the night outside the pen and she goes to Teresa when she goes out just before dark to get let in the gate. We found that Federal laws only applied to a select few cases.

 

[Mike CHS]

Yah, you're entirely right. I'm sure there would need to be a permit to even have one penned. I have no idea what would be necessary legally to involve one in a breeding program. I would think it neat to utilize the hybrids and possibly reintroduce the wild one back to nature. Maybe that would be inhumane. Idk, but it is all hypothetical.

Pastor Dave - this young turkey still has many of the characteristics of the wild ones even though she was reared by us. She knows to hide in tall grass as soon as she senses something/someone unknown and eats very little poultry feed since she free ranges all day.

We would like for her to breed with our domestic turkey if she elects to stick around but we give her her freedom as much as possible.

 

[Mike CHS]

We went to an Estate Auction in Chapel Hill, TN this morning but get very much and didn't expect to since it wasn't far from Nashville and those folks seem to buy at auction like they do at a retail store. The real reason we wanted to go to Chapel Hill was to make contact with the owners of Caney Creek Farm in Chapel Hill. Coincidentally we ran into the owners at the auction and made arrangements to take a look at their sheep this afternoon.

We will go back next weekend and pick out 3 or 4 of their March lambs to breed with our lambs in October. These are some of the prettiest sheep we have seen and will be another step in upgrading our flock. We have another source that we were given by @goatgurl in Northwest Arkansas which will hopefully be another improvement.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well ya may have not bought anything from the auction, but it sure sounds like the trip was well worth it....

 

[Mike CHS]

We are going to have to move the ram tomorrow before we get some unplanned breeding. All of the December ewe lambs and most of the older ewes are hanging around by Ringo's fence backing up to the fence and wagging tails at him. I added a hot wire to his side this afternoon to keep him from trying to go through the fence. The dog training pen will become a ram pen for a bit while we flush the breeders that we will sending his way. The ewe lambs are obviously ready to breed but they don't have the size yet to accommodate a ram as big as Ringo is so they will have to wait till October.

One thing we saw at Caney Creek today taught us that we won't wether any more ram lambs. All of their rams destined for meat sales are intact and the growth rate is half again faster than ewe lambs the same age. We have the fence to let us do that so no more banding or castrating unless we need a male to keep a ram company.

 

[CntryBoy777]

When I do come over your way, I'll be sure to bring a couple of coolers with me and talk some bi'ness....

 

[Baymule]

So if you don't castrate the ram lambs, they grow faster? Ram lambs grow faster than wethers? Hmmmm......I would probably still castrate the ram lambs because of space issues. My wethers going to slaughter next month were back with the flock after weaning, and everyone is happy.

 

[Mike CHS]

So if you don't castrate the ram lambs, they grow faster? Ram lambs grow faster than wethers? Hmmmm......I would probably still castrate the ram lambs because of space issues. My wethers going to slaughter next month were back with the flock after weaning, and everyone is happy.

Our wethers are definitely happy but their growth was stunted when we did the deed to them. We have one wether that was almost 12 pounds at birth that is now still smaller than his sibling ewe that was 2 pounds smaller. I have read about all of this for a long time and have thought about leaving them intact. They have committed restaurant sales which say a lot about what they are doing since they only process males. Your space limits what you can do but I am going to change our planning now based on what we saw that confirmed my research. These folks have a lot of road miles getting to where they are in the genetics return.

 

[farmerjan]

Testosterone is a growth factor. See it in the bull calves as opposed to the steer calves. The big problem we run into, is when they are castrated older; unless we do them, let them back in with their mothers for awhile, then wean; they will drop off too much weight when weaned and castrated. It is a balancing act with the steers, but some still do not get done until older. Others we do at about 4-8 weeks, whenever we work them through the chute, like when we move them out to pasture in the spring or move them around in the fall for winter grazing/feeding. Some places it is just not convenient to get them in a month before weaning and/or selling; get them castrated, then let them back with the cow to "get over it" then bring back to wean and/or sell. They will put on an average 50 lbs or more as bull calves. Once they hit the 6-700 lb size, or as I like to say "when they are starting to feel their cheerios" they start acting more like bulls and will "wear off the weight" from acting like adolescents with a hormone attitude.

The markets here are such that we do not castrate any male (ram) sheep. The ethnic market wants the males to be intact....so we don't do any castrating. Since we always keep more than 2 males for breeding, there is never any problem with a male needing a companion. If you are going to feed a wether, then I would just keep a second male as a backup for breeding. They might have some scuffles over establishing their social standing when you first put them together, but they soon get over it. We will put anywhere from 4-8 mature bulls, weighing 1200 to 2000 lbs, together after breeding season; they do their pushing and shoving and establish their place and then get over it. The Dall sheep will but heads...literally ram heads.... and then stop eventually.